“Two-Faced Terror, Part IV”
First print date: August 19 1978
Prog appearance: Starlord Issue 15
Writer(s): John Wagner
Artist(s): Carlos Ezquerra
Total episodes: 4
As the fight between Johnny and Billy Joe heats up, Alpha realises that despite the gruelling training he has undergone over the last few weeks, he is still no match for the mutant master las-whip man, and is destined to lose. And if he loses the contest, he loses his life. Figuring that of the two personalities locked in one body inside Billy Joe, Joe is the more reckless of the two, Johnny lures him in by feinting a few blows and then hits him with an uppercut. The untraditional move takes Billy Joe by surprise and he falls back as Johnny sears his hand with a cut from the las-whip. As they see their boss in trouble and rush to his aid, the henchmen of the mutant are faced by Wulf and some of the settlers, seeing their chance to be rid of the yoke of the tyrant under whom they have suffered for so long, join in to help the big Viking.
In the confusion, Billy Joe makes a run for it, but Alpha is on his tail. Playing for time, Billy Joe releases the alien monsters from their cages, and Alpha only just escapes by using the las-lash as a vaulting pole, thereby jumping over them. The escaped aliens though are now causing chaos as they rampage through the circus, while Johnny and Billy Joe face off on top of the cage. Suddenly, from up through the bars the Smiling Chukwalla reaches out and grabs Billy Joe's foot. Seeing his chance, Alpha slices through the bars with his las-whip, dropping his opponent into the waiting monster's grasp.
With Billy Joe's reign of terror ended, Johnny and Wulf depart – leaving behind, for once, grateful norms – and at his request take the gronk with them.
Quotes
Citizen 1: “Billy Joe's been preying on us for too long! Those bounty hunters need help!”
Citizen 2: “Then let's give it to them!”
Billy Joe (slicing the cage open): “This is a jailbreak! Out, you critters! Out!”
Billy Joe: “I'm helpless! Don't do it, Stronty!”
Johnny: “When did you ever show mercy, Billy Joe? You terrorised a whole territory with your laser lash. Well, the last lash is on you!”
Gronk: “I'm tired of being a gypsy woman, Mr. Johnny sir. I want to go with you and have adventures. I could be useful. I'm very good at doctorings and much braver than my brother. Why I bets I could even help you in fights against monsters and criminals!”
Show no mercy?
And he does not. As he says himself, Billy Joe has mercilessly oppressed the Big Dusty, setting himself up as a self-styled governor or king, and Johnny has no idea how many innocent people have paid the price of transgressing his rules and laws. So when there is finally an opportunity for him to show mercy, and where he often would – especially given that Billy Joe is a mutant like him – Alpha chooses to show none, and delivers the big mutant into the waiting arms and hungry jaws of the Smiling Chukwalla.
Laughing in the face of death
As he will be throughout the series, the gronk provides much-needed comic relief when, trying to talk himself up as “braver than his brother” (which surely is not saying much, though again the original gronk did rescue Johnny and Wulf, which would be seen as a very brave act by these timid little creatures) he is terrified when Johnny pops a paper bag, and jumps into his box in fright.
And the less said about Johnny's "last lash is on you" quip, really, the better.
